1. Statement of the Problem
Horsemen have been plagued by the labor intensive task of "mucking" stalls by hand. The stalls, as well as pastures and paddocks, become infested with equine parasites with the build-up of manure. These parasites are then ingested by horses when forced to graze around these manure piles. Horses divide pastures into roughs where they defecate and lawns where they graze. Unless pastures are overgrazed, the horses will not graze the roughs. However, it has been found that when the roughs are cleaned of manure, not only is the area used for grazing increased but more importantly, it is a most effective way to control parasites.
The approach to the problem has been to administer wormers drugs on a seasonal basis, early enough to kill adult worms and prevent horses from passing eggs in their manure. Several serious drug-related problems have surfaced in recent years with the use of worming drugs. The most serious of these are drug resistance by horses to the worming drugs, inability of drugs to protect weanling and yearling horses, and adverse ecological effects of the drugs excreted in the manure. This approach of using drugs to control parasites and other hygiene related problems of horses is not a satisfactory solution.
The most effective solution to control parasites is to include pasture hygiene as part of the strategy. Heretofore however, there have been no effective devices to clean the pastures and paddocks of manure. Further, when the manure is removed to a compost pile where the heat produced in the biodegrading processes will kill the worms and eggs, a mulch material is produced which may be used as an organic fertilizer.
2. Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 1,346,433 discloses a combined manure loader and spreader. The patent discloses a machine where the forward portion may drop so that the beater cylinder of the machine can act as a loader or in the loading position whereas if the forward portion is maintained in the vertical position, the machine is in the distributing position.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,790,986 discloses a debris pick-up and collection apparatus. The apparatus sucks debris upwardly from the ground through an upper opening into a receptacle. The air stream is provided by upper and lower impeller blades 70 and 71 which are disposed in opposite relation. A bristled cylindrically shaped brush mounted on a rotatable shaft sweeps material up to the impeller blades. The debris after it passes through the blades is then densely compacted into a bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,901,008 discloses a crop gathering apparatus. The crop gathering apparatus has an assembly 39 having a rotatable flail unit 41 extending transversely to the normal direction of travel of the apparatus and operable to pick up hay or other trough refuse and to throw the material rearwardly into a crop receiving unit 42. The crop receiving unit 42 is connected to a crop blowing unit 43 which raises the crop into a wagon 21. The wagon frame 27 has a pivotal connection at 27 which in the middle of the frame so that the wagon is tilted to discharge a stack 22 from the rear of the wagon.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,185,355 discloses an apparatus for cleaning up animal feces deposits. This patent discloses a hand held device with a fan at the end for drawing the feces into a disposable bag 50. The apparatus can be easily disassembled at the joint 20 for disposing of the bag and inserting a new bag within the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,567,623 discloses a leaf and debris collector. This patent discloses a fan 10 mounted on a wagon 10 which can be towed and moved. The debris is collected in a bag 24 attached to the back of the wagon. The intake to the blower may be through a intake head 18 or alternatively through a flexible duct 36 with an intake hood 38 which is hand operable.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,643,776 discloses a battery powered vacuum trash collector. This patent discloses a device mounted on a cart or vehicle which is run from batteries. The blower is mounted on the back of the vehicle with the pick-up head at the front of the vehicle while a container for collecting the trash or debris is located below the fan at the back of the vehicle. The specific aspects of the patent are directed to a method of maximizing the suction and not to the specific structure of the vacuum device.
None of the foregoing patents disclose an efficient and effective device for mucking stalls or cleaning pastures or paddocks.